Cai Xiang (蔡襄) (7 March 1012 – 27 September 1067), courtesy name Junmo, was a native of Cixiaoli Chiling (Xianyou County, Putian City), Xianyou County, Xinghua Army, and a famous northern Song dynasty courtier, calligrapher, writer, and tea scholar.
In the eighth year of Tiansheng (1030), Cai Xiangdeng Jinshidi successively served as the Inspector of the Pavilion, the Zhizhiyuan, the Zhishiguan, the Zhizhixuan, the Longtuge Zhixue, the Privy Council, the Hanlin Scholar, the Three Envoys, and the Duanmingdian Scholar, and served as the Fujian Road Transport envoy, and the Governor of Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Kaifeng, and Hangzhou. Cai Xiang was an upright official and had political achievements everywhere he went. When in Fuzhou, he went to the folk to deceive; when he was in Quanzhou, he co-presided over the construction of the Wan'an Bridge (Luoyang Bridge, one of the four famous bridges in ancient China); when he was in Fuzhou, he advocated planting Fuzhou to Zhangzhou 700-mile Yidao Pine and presided over the production of beiyuan tribute tea "Xiaolong Tuan". The "Tea Record" summarizes the experience of tea making and tea tasting in ancient times, while the "Lychee Spectrum" has been praised as "the world's first taxonomic work of fruit trees". His poetry is pure and wonderful, his calligraphy is thick and dignified, simple and elegant, and he is one of the "Four Houses of the Song Dynasty". There is the "Complete Works of Cai Zhonghuigong" passed down.
The people of Quanzhou presided over the construction of the Luoyang Bridge in honor of Cai Xiang, and the shrine was specially repaired to commemorate it. The ancestral hall is located in Qiaonan Community, Wan'an Street, Luojiang District, Quanzhou City, and has the opportunity to visit.
Quanzhou Luoyang Bridge
Luoyang Bridge (Luoyang Bridge), formerly known as "Wan'an Bridge", is a bridge connecting the Taiwan Investment Zone and Luojiang District in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China, located on the waterway of the Luoyang River, and is also a famous cross-sea girder large stone bridge, known as the "first bridge in the sea", and is one of the "four famous bridges" in ancient times.
During the Song Qing calendar (1041-1048), the construction of pontoon bridges on the Luoyang River was often washed away by wind and waves; in the fifth year of the Song Emperor (1053 AD), Quanzhou Taishou Cai Xiang presided over the construction of the Luoyang Bridge; in the fourth year of Jiayou (1059 AD), the Luoyang Bridge was built for six years before and after the Luoyang Bridge; in the 21st year of the Republic of China (1932), the Luoyang Bridge was rebuilt into a reinforced concrete bridge deck; in the 27th year of the Republic of China (1938), the Luoyang Bridge was blown up by Japanese aircraft; in 1962, Luoyang Bridge was repaired; in April 1963, the Luoyang Bridge was completed and opened to traffic; in 1993, the Luoyang Bridge was fully constructed; in October 1996, the Luoyang Bridge was restored to its old appearance and open to traffic.
Luoyang Bridge is located in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, the junction of Taiwan Investment Zone and Luojiang District, the bridge from Caixiang Road in the north, across the Luoyang River waterway, west to Qiaonan Road, the total length of the bridge is 834 meters, the width of 7 meters.